1 Now there was a man among the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He went to Jesus at night, and he said to him: “Rabbi, we know that you have arrived as a teacher from God. For no one would be able to accomplish these signs, which you accomplish, unless God were with him.” 3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn anew, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him: “How could a man be born when he is old? Surely, he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be reborn?” 5 Jesus responded: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn by water and the Holy Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 You should not be amazed that I said to you: You must be born anew. 8 The Spirit inspires where he wills. And you hear his voice, but you do not know where he comes from, or where he is going. So it is with all who are born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus responded and said to him, “How are these things able to be accomplished?” 10 Jesus responded and said to him: “You are a teacher in Israel, and you are ignorant of these things? 11 Amen, amen, I say to you, that we speak about what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have spoken to you about earthly things, and you have not believed, then how will you believe, if I will speak to you about heavenly things? 13 And no one has ascended to heaven, except the one who descended from heaven: the Son of man who is in heaven. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so also must the Son of man be lifted up, 15 so that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world, in order to judge the world, but in order that the world may be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not judged. But whoever does not believe is already judged, because he does not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness more than light. For their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not go toward the Light, so that his works may not be corrected. 21 But whoever acts in truth goes toward the Light, so that his works may be manifested, because they have been accomplished in God.” 22 After these things, Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea. And he was living there with them and baptizing. 23 Now John was also baptizing, at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water in that place. And they were arriving and being baptized. 24 For John had not yet been cast into prison. 25 Then a dispute occurred between the disciples of John and the Jews, about purification. 26 And they went to John and said to him: “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, about whom you offered testimony: behold, he is baptizing and everyone is going to him.” 27 John responded and said: “A man is not able to receive anything, unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves offer testimony for me that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but that I have been sent before him. 29 He who holds the bride is the groom. But the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to Him, rejoices joyfully at the voice of the groom. And so, this, my joy, has been fulfilled. 30 He must increase, while I must decrease. 31 He who comes from above, is above everything. He who is from below, is of the earth, and he speaks about the earth. He who comes from heaven is above everything. 32 And what he has seen and heard, about this he testifies. And no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified that God is truthful. 34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and he has given everything into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever is unbelieving toward the Son shall not see life; instead the wrath of God remains upon him.”
John · Catholic Public Domain Version
John 3 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Nicodemus
A Pharisee and leader of the Jews who came to Jesus at night, later asked the council to hear Jesus before judging him, and brought myrrh and aloes of about seventy-five pounds…
Cited in the guide: John 3:1; John 7:50; John 19:39
Cross references (36)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 John 19:39; John 3:10; John 7:47–50; Luke 23:13
- 2 John 5:36; Acts 10:38; Acts 2:22; John 9:30–33; John 9:16
- 3 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:5–6; 1 Peter 1:23–25; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:1
- 4 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 1:18; John 4:11–12; John 3:3; John 6:53
- 5 Ezekiel 36:25–27; Ephesians 5:26; Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21; 1 Corinthians 6:11
- 6 Galatians 5:16–21; Ezekiel 36:26–27; Romans 8:4–9; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 15:47–50
- 7 Ephesians 4:22–24; John 3:3; Romans 12:1–2; 1 Peter 1:22; John 3:12
- 8 Ecclesiastes 11:4–5; 1 Corinthians 2:11; Acts 2:2; Ezekiel 37:9; 1 John 2:29
- 9 Isaiah 42:16; John 6:52; John 6:60; Luke 1:34; John 3:4
- 10 Matthew 22:29; Jeremiah 8:8–9; Ezekiel 11:19; Matthew 15:14; Ezekiel 36:25–27
- 11 John 8:38; 1 John 5:6–12; John 12:49; John 8:14; John 1:18
- 12 1 Corinthians 3:1–2; 1 Corinthians 2:7–9; Hebrews 5:11; John 3:31–36; 1 Peter 2:1–3
- 13 Proverbs 30:4; John 6:38; Acts 2:34; John 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:47
- 14 Numbers 21:7–9; John 8:28; John 12:32–34; Luke 24:26–27; Luke 24:44–46
- 15 John 3:16; John 6:40; 1 John 5:11–13; John 3:36; John 12:44–46
- 16 Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9–10; Romans 8:32; John 3:15; John 11:25–26
- 17 1 John 4:14; Luke 19:10; John 12:47–48; John 6:57; John 6:40
- 18 1 John 5:10; Mark 16:16; Romans 8:1; John 5:24; 1 John 5:12
- 19 John 8:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:12; John 9:39–41; Romans 2:8; John 12:43
- 20 Ephesians 5:11–13; John 7:7; Job 24:13–17; Proverbs 1:29; Proverbs 4:18
- 21 1 John 1:6; Psalm 139:23–24; 3 John 11; Ephesians 5:9; Philippians 2:13
- 22 John 4:1–3; John 3:26; John 7:3
- 23 Mark 1:4–5; Luke 3:7; Ezekiel 43:2; 1 Samuel 9:4; Matthew 3:5–6
- 24 Matthew 4:12; Matthew 14:3; Mark 6:17; Luke 3:19–20; Luke 9:7–9
- 25 John 2:6; Matthew 3:11; Hebrews 6:2; Hebrews 9:10; Hebrews 9:23
- 26 John 1:7; James 3:14–18; John 1:15; Galatians 6:12–13; John 12:19
- 27 James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Peter 4:10–11; Amos 7:15
- 28 John 1:20; John 1:23; Luke 1:16–17; Matthew 3:11–12; Malachi 3:1
- 29 Ephesians 5:25–27; Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 2:19; Matthew 9:15; Ezekiel 16:8
- 30 Colossians 1:18; Psalm 72:17–19; Hebrews 3:2–6; Isaiah 9:7; 1 Corinthians 3:5
- 31 Matthew 28:18; John 8:23; Romans 9:5; John 6:33; 1 John 4:5
- 32 John 3:11; John 15:15; John 1:11; John 8:26; John 5:20
- 33 Ephesians 1:13; Hebrews 6:17; Titus 1:1–2; 2 Corinthians 1:18; Romans 3:3–4
- 34 Acts 10:38; Matthew 12:18; John 15:26; John 5:26; Isaiah 11:2–5
- 35 Matthew 28:18; John 5:20; Luke 10:22; John 5:22; John 17:2
- 36 John 5:24; John 1:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Ephesians 5:6; John 3:15–16
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
We observe, beloved, that the intimation with which we yesterday excited your attention has brought you together with more alacrity, and in greater number than usual; but meanwhile let us, if you please, pay our debt of a discourse on the Gospel Lesson, which comes in due course.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
Little children who go daily to their teachers receive their lessons, and repeat them, and never cease from this kind of acquisition, but sometimes employ nights as well as days, and this they are compelled to do for perishable and transient things.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 14 (1889)
For Christ also said, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, is manifest to all.
… that men can be saved in no other way from the old wound of the serpent than by believing in Him who, in the likeness of sinful flesh, is lifted up from the earth upon the tree of martyrdom, and draws all things to Himself, and vivifies the dead.
These I directed, O sweet Truth, to Thy inward melody, pondering on the "fair and fit," and longing to stay and listen to Thee, and to rejoice greatly at the Bridegroom's voice, and I could not; for by the voices of my own errors was I driven forth, and by the weight of my own pride was I sinking into …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)